I’m 50% through The Alchemist right now. The last time I read it was more than 20 years ago.
One of the discussions between the young traveller and the English man was about the fact that gold would start losing its value if alchemy turned to be simple.
It was a hard practice to understand. Its secret was written in a summarized format on an esmerald stone, but nobody could understand it, leaving the clue that the alchemy must be practiced, lived, not only read about.
But the whole point is made around the raletionship between scarcity and value, an Econimics theory.
It was impossible to me not to draw parallels between alchemy and data at this point.
If “data is the new oil” (reference needed), which needs to be transformed from its raw state into something valuable to mankind through knowledge; that something is an answer.
Answers are the value added product.
ChatGPT has the hidden secrets — especially to the layman’s eyes — that transform elaborated questions into answers, and quick.
Oil turns into polymers. Gold turns into electrical circuitry. Data turns into answers.